The Frozen Heart and The Warmth of Summer
by StrawberryDippedInChocolate
Summary: Steve, accompanied by his new friend and comrade, Sam Wilson, was well on his way through Europe as he was trying to solve the mysterious case of his lost and newly found friend Bucky. But what he didn't expect, was to find the topic of almost all his thoughts and conversations before he even reached his destination.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Steve was well on his way through Europe on the search for answers concerning the mysterious case of his friend, James Buchanan Barnes, or Bucky, so he called him. He was accompanied by his her friend and comrade, Sam Wilson. But they stumbled upon something, or rather someone, they completely did not exhibit the idea of meeting. Among the rocky Carpathian mountains, they stumbled upon a passed out ad badly wounded Winter Soldier.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Steve was sitting in a chair, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees and hands clasped together near his mouth, as he watched the unconscious body on the bed near him.

_Flashback_

_Bucky was found by Sam and Steve in the Carpathian mountains of Ukraine as they were investigating the area, having suspicions of an abandoned Hydra base to which Bucky was first brought. It was not too far from the abandoned 'skull-squid' base that they found the Winter Soldier, hanging by a thread above the abyss which was death. Steve was shocked, he panicked. He forgot all about the secret mission and now had all his thoughts and attention only for his barely alive friend. While Steve was trying to help Bucky stay alive, Sam contacted Tony Stark._

_The genius, playboy, philanthropist was relaxing in a jacuzzi when an incoming call came and J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him. He let out an annoyed sigh and took the call. "What is so important that you have to interrupt my relaxation time?"_

_"We found Bucky."_

_"What?" Tony was caught off guard by this. He sat up a bit._

_"We need a jet right now, he's barely alive."_

_"On it." Tony hung up._

_"Should I send out a jet on auto-pilot?" J.A.R.V.I.S. questioned._

_"Yes. Send out my latest master-piece. It's the fastest, will be there in 10 or so minutes."_

_"They are in Ukraine, sir."_

_"Well... 15 minutes." Tony sighed and slid down a bit in his jacuzzi. He thought he finally had a chance to relax, but no, the world just wouldn't give him a break, it constantly needs saving!_

_"Should I prepare the surgery room, sir? Mr. Barnes is in a life threatening condition and having him at a hospital will waste more time and will require explanations, as well as attract unneeded attention."_

_"Good thinking, JARV. Do that."_

_"Yes, sir."_

* * *

_Sam turned to look at Steve. "Stark is sending us a jet."_

_"Faster... Faster, faster! We don't have enough time!" Steve was completely stressed out. Then he heard the sound of the jet engine and beamed with happiness._

_"Wow...That was fast." Sam acknowledged._

_Steve carefully scooped Bucky up in his arms and hurried to the jet once it landed. It's legs adjusted to uneven surfaces such as the mountains and dug into the rock for support. The entrance opened and Steve, carrying Bucky, along with Sam boarded it. The door closed behind them and J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice was heard._

_"Welcome aboard, gentlemen. Please lay Mr. Barnes on that surgery table and buckle him up, a pain-killer will be injected into him. Please take a seat and buckle up, this jet flies fast."_

_A surgery table slid out from a wall with belts at its sides. Steve carefully and gently lay Bucky down on the table and firmly but carefully still, buckled him up. He took a seat at his side and buckled up, Sam did the same. Then the jet rose into air and zoomed off towards America._

_The mission didn't matter anymore, it could be resumed later, because Steve found who he was mainly looking for and he was all that mattered right now._

_End Flashback_

Steve spent day and night at Bucky's side. He slept in that chair, he sat in that chair. When he grew tired he'd stand up and slowly wander around the room or go out on the balcony. He left Bucky's side only for bathroom. The food was brought to him by a robot or by Sam, rarely by Tony. Cap made it clear he was staying at Bucky's side and he was so persistent that in the end Tony and Sam gave up on trying to convince him he needed a bed to sleep in.

Bucky hadn't awoken since the time he was found. Tony called in some of the best doctors and his close acquaintances who he trusted enough to perform a life-saving surgery on the Winter Soldier. It was probably one of the most stressful surgeries ever performed. It had to be done with extreme carefulness. Bucky needed blood transfusion, and a few organs since he was missing some. Then there were the cuts, gashes, burns, stabs, bruises, and broken bones. What kind of monster could've done this to him? The surgery took 23 hours and Steve stood outside the room, observing the surgery throughout the whole while.

Sam had to awkwardly remind him of the bathroom, but Steve seemed to be in no need of one. He wouldn't consume any food or drink, he would just stand there without moving, constantly watching. He was afraid that if he even as much as blinked, the world would end, and by that, he meant Bucky's death.

Bucky's metal arm was mutilated beyond repair, so after the surgery, Tony had to carefully replace it. The metallic arm had updates to it, extremely useful ones. It had an unhackable communication system, a few minor weapons installed into it, such as: a shocker, a few small misles, small grenades of poison, tear, and regular gas for camouflage, and many other useful things. But the most useful thing was that it could feel sensations of temperature and touch just like a regular arm of flesh and bone, and it could take on a form of an organic human arm.

Now that Bucky's life was saved, he was resting in a room, on a soft bed, with a best friend who took on a role of a watch dog with unwavering loyalty. Now and then, nutrients were injected into Bucky's system for him not to starve to death.

But after the surgery, Steve often found Bucky whimpering and crying in his coma. He was shifting around, often extremely violently, even gave Steve a black eye for a few days. One night, during another one of such fits, while Steve tried to calm Bucky, the broken man whimpered out weakly "Steve..."

Steve's eyes widened with surprise, he was completely caught off guard. Was Bucky remembering the past? He was filled with mixed feelings. He was happy that Bucky was remembering and hopefully he wouldn't forget, but he was wishing that it wouldn't be in such circumstance with such pain.

Steve lay down carefully at Bucky's side and pulled him into a gentle, soft, but protective and strong hug. He held him firmly but gently, feeling like letting him go would be the same as dying. Steve rubbed his back and kissed his head and forehead, whispering soothing words. Soon, Bucky calmed and was peacefully snoring. Steve found himself falling to sleep as well.

Since then, Bucky's sleep was more peaceful. Perhaps because subconsciously he felt the presence of his closest friend. Still, Steve often found himself in bed, holding Bucky close to himself, soothing and comforting him. Bucky was like a broken vase, which only Steve could fix, and comforting him during his nightmares and staying at his side 24/7 was the first step one would take, fixing the base. That would be easy, but as one proceeded higher, it became harder with each new shard and a constant danger of everything breaking back down and shattering into more shards was the scariest part about the process. That's how Steve currently felt, afraid of losing Bucky any moment, and when he held him, it was like holding a fragile vase with walls as thin as an ice crust could get, and if too much pressure would be applied, the vase would shatter. But Steve wasn't planning on breaking the ice coating Bucky's heart, he was planning on melting it slowly and gradually.

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

It's been several weeks now. Bucky's condition was gradually getting better: he had less and less nightmare, his body showed no signs of rejection of the new organs, wounds were healing fast, some healthy color returned to his sickly pale face. One night though, then Steve fell asleep in the chair, he woke up to gasps and whimpers of pain. He opened his eyes, the immediate recognition of the voice made him jump to attention. He hurried to Bucky's side.

"Bucky! Everything's all right! I'm here, I'm with you." Steve tried to sooth him as he held him close, but it seemed pointless.

"Mr. Rogers, he seems to have a fever. Should I wake up Mr. Stark?" J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke up.

"No... If I can handle it, don't. Just tell me where the medical kit is." Steve replied.

"I'll have one of the robots bring it."

"How serious is it?"

"Not life threatening."

"Okay, that's a relief, but what's the cause?"

"His immune system is very low, he might've caught a virus while the windows were open, combined with the nightmare he is having right now, it resulted in a fever."

Steve sighed. Then the door opened and a robot rode in with a medical kit. Steve set the medical kit on the night stand at the Bucky's bedside. He pulled the chair closer, then sat in it once more and looked through the kit. He took out a thermometer and measured Bucky's temperature. "38 degrees..." His eyes narrowed.

"It could be worse, sir."

"I know." Steve set the thermometer aside and looked through the medical kit. Another robot came in with some towels and bowl of water. Steve nodded to the robot in gratitude. He wet one towel and rinsed it out, then folded it and lay it on Bucky's forehead. He looked through the medical kit and found some medicine to lower the temperature. He poured the medicine into the spoon, then carefully fed it to Bucky. Then he took another wet towel and began to wipe Bucky's body. Once that was done, he covered Bucky more with the blanket and lay under it, holding the fragile man in his strong arms. Bucky was shaking and whimpering, but soon he calmed and resumed a somewhat calm sleep.

* * *

Next morning, Steve woke up to the hooting of cars outside the Stark Tower on the busy streets below. He yawned, then looked down to see Bucky peacefully asleep and clinging to him. He blinked, then smiled. He carefully got out of the bed, made sure Bucky was well covered by the covers, then went to the bathroom. He returned to find Sam just bringing in food for him.

"Morning." Sam greeted.

"Morning, Sam." Steve replied. He rubbed his eyes, then yawned.

"I heard from JARV last night was hectic."

"Bucky had a fever."

"He seems better now."

"Thankfully."

"Tony says he might be waking up soon."

Steve lightened up with happiness. "Really? Oh goodness, yes! Does he know when?"

"He said it should be in a week at the latest." Sam smirked at Cap's happiness.

"Oh God, thank you!" Steve couldn't contain his happiness, he broke into tears.

Sam blinked in surprise, then smirked and shook his head. "You big baby." He went to hug Steve and share his happiness.

"I'm sorry." Steve sobbed.

"It's 'kay." Sam slight poked Steve's forehead. "But you seriously need a bath and a change of clothing."

Steve blinked. "Oh yes, sorry."

"Go on, I'll watch over him."

"Thank you."

Sam nodded in response.

Steve opened the door and stopped in the door way to take a look at Bucky's peaceful form. He smirked, then turned ad walked out, closing the door after himself.

Sam looked at Bucky. He sighed. Steve and Bucky, they were a lot like Sam and Riley. Sam sighed once more. He was somewhat jealous, at least Steve's comrade was alive. Sam instead, was left with memories, some photos, and a grave. He sat down in Steve's chair at Bucky's bedside. "Don't know if you can hear me or not, but I'll say this anyway, so listen up. I'm jealous, okay? I hardly can cope with it. Steve treasures you so much he would even let you beat him up, and you would beat him to death if something hadn't clicked in you. And after all of this, you're still alive when my partner is dead. So lemme tell ya something, pal. Hurt Steve, and I'll hurt you. I'm not so soft like Steve, I WILL hurt you. So you better hurry up and get those memories back, 'cause that big baby is losing his head over you, he's crawling outta his skin for ya, so you better return the favor." He sighed. "Alright, enough said. Hurry up and wake up already."

Bucky's expression was still, calm, perhaps with some signs of attention? Yes... he definitely heard Sam.

Sam looked at him, then sighed with a shake of his head. He got up and went out on the balcony, closing the door into the room. It was suny today, and warm. He looked at the busy city before him.

Steve returned in a fresh t-shirt and sweat pants, with a towel around his neck. He saw Bucky sound asleep and smiled a bit, then he saw Sam out on the balcony. He went to the balcony, on his way he grabbed the mug of coffee on the tray brought by Sam. He stepped out on the balcony, closing the door behind himself. Taking a sip of his coffee, he looked at the city. "Did he behave?"

Sam smirked. "Oh, he has no shame."

"Oh?" Steve blinked.

"Sleeping like a baby after all he's done." Sam said.

Steve sighed with a smirk, looking down at his feet, then he looked up at the city before him once more.

"Are you planning on resuming the mission?" Sam looked at him.

"Not any time soon, Buck's my top priority right now."

"What will you do if some enemy strikes?"

"I'll go out and deal with them, but looking after Bucky's my priority."

Sam nodded in response.

"What was it like?" Steve looked at him.

"What was?" Sam looked at Steve.

"Between you and Riley?"

Sam looked down at the busy street below.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's fine, don't apologize."

Steve looked at him.

"We were a lot like you and Buck. Ready to take a bullet for each other."

"When Bucky fell from that train... I couldn't think of anything anymore. I lost all feeling and hope."

"Yeah, losing a comrade does that to ya." Sam nodded. "What returned the determination to you?" He looked at Steve.

"Bucky's fall."

"Same thing?"

"Yeah. I couldn't forgive myself for letting him go, but more than that, I couldn't forgive Hydra. Their existence, I couldn't forgive it. All that they did, all the lives they ended and ruined. So much suffering, I had to take revenge."

"So you took revenge not just for him but for all of the hurt people?"

"At that time, I thought so, and when I woke up I thought the same. But as I spent more time in this century, learning about all the changes and everything I missed, and when Hydra showed up again, I knew that wasn't the case."

"Well you did help end the war."

"I did, but it seems more like I ended a battle, not a war."

"You'll win." Sam reassured.

"What makes you so sure?"

"'Cause even though we spent so little time together, I already know you enough to be sure that you won't rest until all of evil is rid from the world."

"What makes you think so?"

"Your persistence. You already died once."

"More like I was preserved."

"Still, I can well say you'll keep rising from the grave till you are sure your work is done."

Steve smirked. "I think my work will never be done."

"Yes, there's still a long way to go, but you can do it." Sam looked at the sky scrapers.

"Can I?" Steve looked from his coffee at Sam.

"Sure ya can." Sam looked at him. "You're Captain America."

Steve smirked.

"Okay, I gotta stuff to do."

"Yeah, sorry for all the trouble."

"No trouble at all, so don't apologize."

"Good luck."

"Thanks." Sam stepped left the balcony and then Bucky's room.

Steve took another sip of his coffee, taking a last look at the city, then returned into Bucky's room.

Bucky was panting a bit, his brows furrowed in pain, sweat stepping out on his skin once more.

Steve measured his temperature, 37 degrees. Lower by a degree, but still. He wet a towel and wiped Bucky's body, then gave him some more medicine. In a few moments, Bucky calmed a bit. Steve resumed sitting at Bucky's side, watching over him.

After a while, he felt like drawing. "J.A.R.V.I.S."

"Yes, sir?"

"Mind watching over Buck for a bit?"

"Not at all."

"Thanks." Steve got up and left Bucky's room to his own temporary one. He got his notebook and pencils, then returned to Bucky's room. "Thank you, J.A.R.V.I.S."

"No thank's needed, sir."

Steve sat down in his chair. He set the pencils on the corner of the night stand at Bucky's bedside. He opened his notebook and started to sketch. He was going to draw Bucky while he's peacefully asleep. It was a while since he drew his friend. He thought he lost his touch, but the picture turned out pretty good. He smiled a bit at the drawing. He then looked at Bucky. "Oh Bucky..." He softly stroked his cheek with the back of his fingers. "I won't let anything happen to you, not anymore, not on my watch! So hurry up and wake up, I miss those deep blue eyes..."

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

The sky was thickly coated with black clouds, thunder boomed and lightning lit up the sky. Steve's eyes shot open at the sudden, explosion-like noise from the outside. He jolted up and looked around, panting as his heart raced. He jumped to his feet and went out on the terrace to look outside. He almost slipped on the wet floor of the terrace but caught the rails in time not to fall. His eyes observed everything quickly, searching for the trouble he was expecting, but then he noticed it was pouring and that it was the thunder that woke him and not an explosion. He let out a sigh of relief and went back into the room. He closed the door to the terrace and then looked at the bed and realized that Bucky was missing. His eyes widened and his heart started racing again.

"Bucky?" He called and was about to run out the door when J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke up.

"Sir, he's int he bathroom." J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

Steve looked to the door of the room's adjusted bathroom, there was light coming from under it. He exhaled once more in relief, then went to his chair and pulled it to the glass door leading to the balcony and plopped down onto it, sitting in a relaxed position and watching the weather outside.

Inside the bathroom, Bucky stood in the tub with his hands on the wall and head hung as scalding water rained down on him, making his skin pink from its heat. He heard Steve, but he didn't reply. In truth, while he was in his coma, he remembered everything that had happened to him which he should not remember: everything he could remember from his childhood, how he grew up, his time with Steve, the army, the war, then falling off the train that time and losing his arm, getting found and carried away by the Soviets, being experimented on, all the horrible things he did, the cryo, everything up until the moment he lost consciousness in the Carpathian mountains.

Bucky bit his bottom lip and clenched his fists, so hard his knuckles went white, but only on his right hand. His left hand looked like it was covered in real skin, it took him a moment when he woke up to realise that he wasn't dreaming and he was missing his real hand, but instead of the arm that Hydra gave him, he was one that looked more like a human arm. It felt strange to be able to feel temperature and the sensation of touch with his left arm, it would take some time to get used to. The only disadvantage he saw so far was the pain he'd feel if he blocked a weapon attack with his left arm and from the high temperatures.

Steve was lost in thought of how he was going to approach Bucky and what he was going to say to him once the other stepped out of the bathroom. His train of thought was broken by the sound of the lock on the door unlocking and the door opening slowly with a slight creak. He turned back to see Bucky stepping out in only a towel wrapped around his waist and still wet, leaving trails of water after himself. He stood there, watching Steve in silence, water dripping from his hair strands.

Steve stood up from his chair and turned to face Bucky, the both of them stared at one another in silence. Steve slowly approached Bucky. "Bucky..." He started, but was interrupted by the other man.

"Steve, don't." Bucky stopped him with a raised hand.

Steve stopped walking and stood a meter away from his friend. Oh how he wanted to hug him tightly and never let him go, never again. But there was a mere meter between them which prevented him from doing so. Steve swallowed, looking at his friend.

"No need for all this careful approach bullshit." Bucky continued. "I remember everything..." Bucky said.

Steve's eyes widened. "Bucky...!" He breathed. He made two steps forward and wrapped his arm around Bucky, pulling him into a strong and tight embrace. His eyes filled with tears and he sobbed, hanging his head as he held Bucky to himself with one hand on Bucky's back and another on the back of his head.

"Steve...!"Bucky struggled a bit. He was still weak, having just woken up and having enough strength only to walk and perform average movements, but he was still weak to fight. "Let go... You're crushing me!"

Steve let go of Bucky, but he held him by his shoulder as he looked at him. There were still tears in his eyes. "Please... Please tell him this isn't a dream... I beg you... Please tell me this isn't a dream!"

"It's not a dream, happy." Bucky replied.

That only made Steve cry more and pulled Bucky into another tight hug. "Oh Bucky!" The big baby kept on sobbing.

"Hey...Man...Stop." Bucky tried to push him away but it was pointless. "I'm not gonna go anywhere... For now at least."

Steve looked at him again. "You can't go anywhere... I won't let you... I won't let you go... Not anymore... Not now, not ever!"

"Fine, fine. But let me dress at least." Bucky looked around. "Is there even anything for me to dress into?"

"J.A.R.V.I.S." Steve spoke up, still eyes on Bucky.

"Yes, sir?" The house spoke.

Bucky jumped a bit from surprise and looked around, searching for the source of the voice.

"Is there any clothing that my friend can wear?" Steve asked, still looking at Bucky.

"Mr. Stark had some extra clothing ready for Mr. Barnes to wear once he awoken. I will have a robot bring it." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied.

"Yes, thank you." Steve said. The house said nothing in return.

"Who was that?" Bucky asked Steve, once he found no living source of the voice.

"J.A.R.V.I.S. is a program created by Tony Stark, the owner of this house and son of Howard Stark. J.A.R.V.I.S. is more like a mind without a body, having a point of view of its own." Steve explained.

"Uh-huh..." Bucky replied. He looked around the room. "So," He looked at Steve. "Where is he?"

"Basically everywhere. He can transfer himself into any mechanical object. Be it a cell phone, or Tony's Iron Man suit." Steve kept explaining.

"Uh-huh... And what's a cellphone?" Bucky asked. He felt awkward, not knowing anything about the technological development of the 21st century, except for the weaponry and experiment devices.

Steve smiled, he had a lot of explaining to do, and he would certainly enjoy telling his friend everything he knew. He would explain the smallest details until Bucky understood them, in some way at least if not fully. And that's exactly what he was doing for the past several hours after Bucky was brought his clothing. Apparently it was still night and Tony and Pepper were still asleep.

Pepper was the first to wake. When she walked into the kitchen in her robe, she jumped up in surprise when she saw Steve and Bucky sitting at the table and talking over some coffee.

"Oh, good morning, Pepper." Steve greeted with a smile.

Bucky turned back to look at the person Steve referred to. He saw a woman who seemed to be in her late 20s or early 30s. She had strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes, a curvy build with some muscle, and wore a white robe.

Pepper took a moment to catch her breath and calm her heart beat. "Yes... Good morning. Well... This is a good wake up call." She smirked, then inhaled and exhaled deeply. She stood up straight and looked at them both. "When did he wake?" She referred to Bucky.

"In the middle of the night." Steve replied.

"Uh-huh..." Pepper nodded. She went to a counter to get her cup and poured herself some water. She leaned on the counter with the back of her waist as she took a sip of her coffee. "How are you feeling?" She asked Bucky.

"Weak to fight but strong enough to walk and talk." Bucky replied.

"Oh... Yeah..." Steve remembered to introduce Pepper to Bucky. He cleared his throat. "Bucky, this is Ms. Pepper Potts, she is Tony's assistant."

Pepper nodded to Bucky, who gave a slight nod back.

"Is Tony still sleeping as always?" Steve asked?

"Yeah, you can expect him to wake up on his own around 1 p.m." Pepper replied, taking another sip of her coffee.

Steve smirked. "But you're not going to let him sleep for so long, are you?"

"Nope." Pepper took the final sip and set her cup into the dish washer. Then she left the kitchen to go dress.

After putting on a pair of tight, white jeans, a light green t-shirt, brown, leather sandals, and collecting her hair in a pony tail, Pepper went to wake Tony.

The door opened on its own in front of her as she came in. Tony's room was a mess of clothing and papers all over the place along with tools. She sighed, there was no difference between his room and his workshop. In fact, his workshop was more tidy than his room! "Oh Tony." She shook her head with a sigh. She made her way through the mess to his bed, sat down on the edge of it, and stared to shake him lightly by his shoulder. "Wake up, Tony."

"Mmmmmmrrggh..." Tony groaned. He grimaced a bit and waved her away lazily. "Five more minutes."

"No, it has to be now." Pepper insisted.

"What is it now? Tsunami? Earth quake? Terrorist attack?" Tony said sleepily.

"James Buchanan Barnes woke up." Pepper said.

"WHAT?" Tony jolted up. His eyes wide, heart racing. "J.A.R.V.I.S.! Close all the door and hide all more robots! Block all the systems so that he doesn't get my research and get me my suit!" Tony jumped to his feet.

Pepper chuckled.

"What?" Tony looked at her.

"He's not endangering anyone, Tony." She said through her laughs.

"What?" Tony asked in disbelief. "He's one of the world's top most wanted terrorists and he's not endangering anyone? What is this? Some parallel universe in which ever villain is a nice guy? Then I should be expecting a friendly visit from Loki."

Pepper chuckled more. "No, Tony. He remembers everything, and he's too weak to fight. So if he tried to cause anything, Steve would hold him down."

"Yeah yeah, as if that muscled up teddy bear is capable of punching someone." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Tony." Pepper stood up from his bed. "Give Captain some credit."

"The last time I checked, he was willing to let that friend of his punch him to death." Steve countered.

"James didn't remember anything. Plus, he's Steve's friend. Imagine how Steve felt the whole time." Pepper countered back.

"Still, I'm not having him for long in my tower. I'm fine with him as long as he's out of here. He can go live with Steve, Steve has his own house." Tony argued as he pulled on some clothing.

"That's dangerous, Tony. They can be spied on and attacked."

"And if they are here, we're on the radar too." Tony countered once more.

Pepper sighed. "Come on, Tony. At least let them stay till Bucky is strong enough to leave and fight back."

"You mean wait until he's strong enough to kick mine and Steve's asses?"

Pepper huffed. "Tony! He seems to have changed for the better, give him a chance!"

"Or he's just fooling everyone and hiding behind Steve's back while flattering his lashes innocently, getting himself some time for his evil schemes!"

"Tony!"

"Pepper!"

Pepper looked at him, arms crossed, then left his room with a huff and a shake of her head.

Tony watched her leave. "Hey! Pepper! I'm just looking out for both of us!" Tony stuck his head out of the door way and shouted after her. But Pepper just kept on walking. He sighed and went back in, the door closing behind him. "Women." He said with a sigh and a head shake.

"But they are the suns of our male lives, Mr. Stark." J.A.R.V.I.S. seemed to tease Tony.

"Oh, be quiet. And don't talk like you've been in love!"

"Maybe I have." J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded like he said with a shrug of his shoulders, imaginary shoulders.

"Wait, what?" Tony stopped dressing. "Who was it? A girl robot? Or some female type artificial intellect?"

"No, but I have had a few interests in some of your female guests."

"Wait, you spied on me while I had sex?" Embarrassment and anger was building up inside Tony.

"I am the house after all, Mr. Stark." Now J.A.R.V.I.S. was really enjoying this.

"And you got off on it?" Tony quickly realised he didn't want that question answered. "Wait, don't answer that."

"It was an interesting sight, Mr. Stark. Very." J.A.R.V.I.S. struggled to keep a calm voice.

Tony's face reddened with fury. He stormed out of his room into the kitchen. He stopped in the door way and eyed Steve and Bucky. Then he proceeded to the coffee machine, all the while glaring at Bucky, who seemed to raise a brow.

"What's his problem?" Bucky whispered lowly to Steve.

"Probably a fight with Pepper." Steve whispered back.

"Do they do that often?" Bucky asked.

"Not surprisingly, yes." Steve replied.

"Why not surprisingly?" Bucky asked.

"It's just how they are." Steve replied.

"And he's always the reason?"

"Mostly, yes."

"I heard that." Tony said as he finished pouring himself his coffee. He turned on his heels and glared at both men while drinking his coffee.

Steve seemed to flinch a bit under the glare.

Pepper walked into the kitchen. She paused for a moment. "It wasn't me."

"It was me, Ms. Potts." J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke up.

Again Bucky's eyes traveled around the room. He shifted uncomfortably, feeling spied on, with no privacy what-so-ever.

"What did you do this time?" Pepper asked.

"We spoke about love." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied.

"Oh?" Pepper raised a brow, as she opened the fridge and scanned its contents for something she could eat, then she retrieved some sushi from it and closed the door.

"Yes, I have revealed my secret of spying on him and his 'guests'." There was some hinting exaggeration on the last word.

Pepper chuckled and shook her head. "Oh J.A.R.V.I.S., I'd give you a high-five if you could do so back."

"It is a shame I cannot." J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

"Indeed it is." Pepper took her breakfast and went to sit at the table with Steve and Bucky.

Tony grumbled and after taking his last sip and setting the cup down on the counter with a loud clank, stormed off to his workshop.

"Tony! At least put your cup into the dishwasher." Pepper called to him, but he kept on walking. She sighed and shook her head. Then got up and put his cup into the dishwasher.

"He seems like a child." Bucky spoke up lowly.

"More like an adolescent." Steve said.

"An adolescent girl on her period is more accurate." Pepper spoke up with a sigh and a shake of her head.

There was a moment of surprise between the two males before they chuckled a bit, realising just how accurate that really was.


End file.
